The Malawian government has bought 250 dairy cows in a bid to increase milk production in the country and improve the socio economic status of smallholder farmers, deputy minister of Agriculture Bintony Kutsaira has said.
The first consignment of 79 cows from South Africa was being kept at Mpemba Quarantine Centre for screening of diseases and for the animals to adapt to the local environment for a period of 28 days.
The deputy minister added that more cows would be sold to people who are willing to buy, adding government was still discussing how much each one would cost. "They will be sold at a subsidised price, which means whatever price, government will pay something. This is in an effort to increase milk supply, " Kutsaira said.
Kutsaira added that it has been observed that processing companies were buying milk at very low prices from local farmers and some even prefer to import. He said the ministry was discussing with companies that they should only buy milk from outside the country when it was in short supply locally.
Government is in its first phase of the project, which would run for 10 years. The second consignment of the remaining 171 cows is expected in the country before the end of the month. It is estimated that by the end of 10 years, government would have bought about 10,000 cows for sale to farmers. According to Kutsaira, government had put aside K80 million ($570,000) for the project and the 250 cows has cost it about K71 million.
Deputy Director for Animal Health and Livestock Development, Baxter Zimba, said "One cow produces about 20 litres a day. Right now, the country needs about 40,000 metric tones of milk with about 30,000 dairy cows countrywide. There is potential that we can reach that amount with this project in place," he said.
The cows would be distributed to smallholder farmers in Blantyre, Machinga, Kasungu, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
Daily Times
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